Photo: Jill Fannon for Spring 2019 edition of Bmore Art for 'Artists who wear their work.'
The Inspiration For My Art
I grew up poor and I am old; both can be a blessing or a curse, depending on one’s point of view. Yet, both are fundamental for my art practice.
Firstly: the poverty aspect: I have learned from an early age to make do with what is on hand and that it is not the material itself that makes something special or beautiful but the care and attention one applies when creating it. I follow this principle in my art. I use discarded cotton fabric, reuse embroidery floss and repurpose felt, wool, and other material. A pair of good scissors and a variety of threads and needles is all I need to get started.
Secondly: the age aspect: I was born during World War II and growing up during the war and in postwar Germany has given me a unique experience of life before the need and want to have something exploded into an all-pervasive consumerism. I cherish the experience and make it part of my storytelling.
I made a Crankie (a moving panorama on scrolls) about the art of mending clothes beautifully. There is another one about foraging for mushrooms and berries in the forests of my childhood. In my story I explain that foraging was a necessity because of the food shortage and a pleasure because of the forest surrounding us.
The pictures of folk artists inspire my images. I write the words for the stories and often sing them. My singing is influenced by ballad singers of the 19th and 20th century. I often have refrains with my songs and draw my audience in by asking to sing with me.
The decorations in Catholic churches, and the Ex-Voto paintings (Memorials for a certain saint) I have seen as a child, had a tremendous impact on my young mind. When I look at these paintings now I am moved, not because it is a religious item but because of the fundamental beauty and sincerity it displays. I grew up in Bavaria, a state with a rich cultural tradition in folk art. The painted houses, the colorful decorations in churches, the roadside chapels with their overflowing flower decorations, and Ex-Voto tablets, are the images that are on my mind and which influence me whenever I start a new project.